Connor McDavid barrels towards Marc-Andre Fleury at full speed, turning the corner on defenseman Nate Schmidt and readying to pull the puck to his forehand for a finish.

Fleury quickly slides his grip to the end of his stick handle, stabs at the puck and flops onto his side. Surprised by the poke check, McDavid slides the puck along the ice to the short side, but there’s a wall of pads waiting to make the save.

The two-pad stack technique that was once the go-to desperation save in the NHL is all but extinct, but occasionally a netminder will dust it off, surprise a shooter and leave the fans in the arena with their collective jaws on the floor.

The goalie lies on his side, both leg pads stacked on top of each other (hence the name) to take away the entire bottom half of the net. It also allows the goaltender to reach further with his blocker hand for the poke check.

“I try to not do it as much as I used to, but it’s still fun when you make...